LandOfChocolate:Not that I'm sympathetic with the guy but I don't see whats so horrible about the situation. Ignoring the "evil giant corporation bit":

- Man enjoys product from company- Man purchases product from company that is not up to usual standards and is possibly unsafe- Man contacts company about said experience under the impression that the company cares about its business and would want to know if something is amiss- Man surprised when the above is found to be completely false.

Now, the last part probably shows a bit of naivete about how the world works and I don't really feel it was necessary to continue biatching about it on the internet but all in all, its not the worst consumerist article I've read.

The consumerist aside, I don't see a problem with this. More and more companies are neglecting their customer service while having complaint forms on their websites or pre-recorded numbers to leave a message for them. They seem to throw these messages directly into the trash and there's nothing the customer can do to actually hear back from them.I spent a frustrating day last month trying to contact someone, anyone at Greyhound bus lines who could tell me why my ticket cost $20 more than the pricing had said and it was impossible. No response from the 'contact form', the phone staff only re-directed me to the same form, except when the one guy said he was transferring me to a supervisor and instead put me through to shipping. I didn't care that much about the $20, it was that their pricing was clearly wrong and I didn't want that to happen to other people.This guy in the article said that he just wanted an acknowledgement of his issue and didn't even get that. That's what ticked him off.

You've never been to [redacted], MA? It's a lovely town. The high school's mascot is the [redacted] Censors. As you might imagine; all the street signs are blacked out; and all the addresses are blurred.

/ I imagine that plays well with the postal service

// the town seal looks a lot like the seal of the FCC

I couldn't find it on Google Maps.

It's that blurry part of the state that kind of looks like a wang off of I-495.

I never thought Id compliment burger king, but the new popcorn chicken they started on Monday is delicious and one of the best popcorn chickens I've had from a fast food restaurant. Could be I just got a fresh, lightly breaded box by accident but its worth a try at $2.

I think what bothers me most about the Consumerist is that they take the word of the person writing in as golden and they never seek comment or resolution from the company they're complaining about.

In this case, they slap up a little paragraph at the end, "Oh, he should have called the manager at the restaurant", but often, they just post up the whining and don't attempt to qualify it. What's more, most of the Consumerist stories are not due to bad service, but outlier behavior that happens any time you've got a large-scale operation. Every now and then, something goes bad.

Freakonomics did an excellent episode on a restaurant that got bigger and started having problems, ultimately resulting in a dead mouse in someone's salad. Stephen Dubner managed to confront the restaurant's owner and get him to not just explain what had caused the problem, but to explain how they were going to fix it. It was clear that the perceived "media pressure" played a role in that, but it also moved the story from one of disgust to one of improvement.

That interaction is far more useful to society than a biatch blog like the Consumerist.

I had a similar situation happen with Popeyes years ago. I went there on my lunch hour, 10pm, and got a meal. When I got back and took a bite into it I got a mouth full of dirt. Since it was know about 10:30 and the store was closing I tried to call them to complain but nobody was picking up the phone. So I decided to go to their feedback box on the website and I fired off an angry complaint letter complete with contact info. After doing that I felt a little better and forgot about it, until about 4 or 5 months later when I received an package from the corporate office with a form letter apologizing for the service and $200 in coupons.

" I generally avoid fast food, but I do have cravings for their chicken pot pies, which I happen to find delicious for an occasional treat." I don't know how he can say it smelled like chemicals or anything else. The pie may have just smelled like food that day. Craving chicken pot pies and finding them delicious is evidence of some seriously damaged taste buds.

Some employees just don't care. I was at the grocery store last month when a woman in her 70s was at the self-checkout with a 1.5 L bottle of wine. She pretended to scan it, pushed some buttons on the touch screen, and walked away. I mentioned it to the employee manning self-checkout area who shrugged her shoulders and went back to staring into space.

You're going out to eat. Once you decide to do that you give up control of your food since you're no longer the one who will prepare it. Not saying there isn't recourse if your food is awful/unsanitary/burned but what do you really expect from minimum wage "cooks" who just want to go home and smoke a blunt?

/No, I don't make all my own meals//But I don't take things back to McDonalds/BK/KFC and ask for my money back///Seriously, you want your $6.50 back? And you're willing to waste your own time arguing with KFC PR and corporate drones?

I realize you put the word "cook" in sarcastiquotes, but anyway... No one at a fast food joint (or even family restaurants) should qualify for the title of "cook." They're "food re-heaters," not cooks.

Philip J. Fry:Went to KFC last night only to find out they stopped serving Snackers to my dismay. I should write up an essay about it and submit it to the consumerist.

You should call and complain. Say you had to drive all that way to find out there were no more Snackers. But make sure you give all the heart wrenching details of your trip. And if the first person you talk to doesn't care, go higher up.

I bet you get some free food. You would be surprised how much free food you can get just by complaining about stupid shiat.

Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to complain about that fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime

carrion_luggage:mama2tnt: Someone told me that KFC is bringing back Chicken Littles. Does anyone know if this is true and what area(s)?

The sky is falling. Your triglycerides? Not so much.

Actually, I went on a Chicken Littles-only fad one summer a couple of decades ago (no mayo, btw) and my cholesterol fell more than 100 points (YMMV). My doctor flipped out when I told her I hadn't even been trying.

... I spoke to a girl on the phone and let them know that I was unhappy with my experience, but I was most unhappy that my complaint was completely ignored. She offered no apology or anything of use...

LandOfChocolate:Not that I'm sympathetic with the guy but I don't see whats so horrible about the situation. Ignoring the "evil giant corporation bit":

- Man enjoys product from company- Man purchases product from company that is not up to usual standards and is possibly unsafe- Man contacts company about said experience under the impression that the company cares about its business and would want to know if something is amiss- Man surprised when the above is found to be completely false.

Now, the last part probably shows a bit of naivete about how the world works and I don't really feel it was necessary to continue biatching about it on the internet but all in all, its not the worst consumerist article I've read.

If it was me, I just wouldn't have gone back

Actually the last part is somewhat of a surprise - most large companies are smart enough to know the very small fraction of their customers that are motivated to complain in writing are motivated enough to pursue it further, so the best solution is to send them something that doesn't look too much of a form letter (even if it mostly is) and some freebies/coupons and most of them will feel mollified (and the rest there isn't likely anything you could do anyway). At least for the first couple of complaints - if the same person just endlessly complains but keeps buying your stuff, ignoring that address/person is then the best policy.

You're going out to eat. Once you decide to do that you give up control of your food since you're no longer the one who will prepare it. Not saying there isn't recourse if your food is awful/unsanitary/burned but what do you really expect from minimum wage "cooks" who just want to go home and smoke a blunt?

/No, I don't make all my own meals//But I don't take things back to McDonalds/BK/KFC and ask for my money back///Seriously, you want your $6.50 back? And you're willing to waste your own time arguing with KFC PR and corporate drones?

I realize you put the word "cook" in sarcastiquotes, but anyway... No one at a fast food joint (or even family restaurants) should qualify for the title of "cook." They're "food re-heaters," not cooks.

I only did that because KFC loves to mention in their commercials "We have a cook in every restaurant!" And I agree with your sentiment, especially since I worked as an actual cook when I was a chef's assistant. A "Cook" is essentially the bottom biatch of the kitchen staff, especially if you never went to culinary school (like me!). If you're not spending most of your time running around the kitchen like a crazy man or cutting veggies, you're not a cook.

And he could have resolved the problem by returning to the restaurant or calling and speaking to a manager.

He has an excuse, though:

Unfortunately, because my lunch was over, I was not able to return to the KFC to bring it back.

So, was it impossible to go there after work? Is this a KFC that's only open for lunch?

Sure, it's annoying to contact a company via their website and not receive a response after two weeks. But that's a separate issue from the food problem, which he should have handled with the store he bought it from. If he had time to go to the website, he had time to make a phone call to the KFC in question.

He even refers to "possibly unsafe to eat food." Uh, if it's "possibly unsafe to eat," shouldn't you warn the place immediately so no one else is in danger?

In a perfect world, there would be a fried chicken fast food outlet with Popeye's chicken, Church's biscuits, KFC's mashed potatoes and gravy, and Chik-fil-A's diligence in the preservation of traditional marriages.

Sucks to be that dude. I emailed YUM Brands corp once because the store near me had a reoccurring issue and got free meal coupons in the mail a week later and the restaurant seemed to never have it again. Usually at any fast food place I'd just go to the manager and they'd fix it then but with takeout that is a biatch. I've never seen a chain place even question a small issue, it's not worth the time to do anything other than make it right to a reasonable customers expectations and then some. Then again I'm a white male and that sure helps, maybe this person isn't

If the company isn't going to do anything useful with the information they solicit from customers, though, why don't they just take down that contact form from their site?

Because they can sell the information to make some extra money. The majority of those response lines are there for no other reason than, should a lawsuit come up, the company can say "But we have this service they can use, so we're not at fault." It's all just a butt-cover.

gunga galunga:In a perfect world, there would be a fried chicken fast food outlet with Popeye's chicken and red beans and rice, Church's biscuits, KFC's mashed potatoes and gravy, and Chik-fil-A's diligence in the preservation of traditional marriages.

The Southern Logic Company:GranoblasticMan: The Southern Logic Company: Whatever happened to, you know, just not eating there again?

You're going out to eat. Once you decide to do that you give up control of your food since you're no longer the one who will prepare it. Not saying there isn't recourse if your food is awful/unsanitary/burned but what do you really expect from minimum wage "cooks" who just want to go home and smoke a blunt?

/No, I don't make all my own meals//But I don't take things back to McDonalds/BK/KFC and ask for my money back///Seriously, you want your $6.50 back? And you're willing to waste your own time arguing with KFC PR and corporate drones?

I realize you put the word "cook" in sarcastiquotes, but anyway... No one at a fast food joint (or even family restaurants) should qualify for the title of "cook." They're "food re-heaters," not cooks.

I only did that because KFC loves to mention in their commercials "We have a cook in every restaurant!" And I agree with your sentiment, especially since I worked as an actual cook when I was a chef's assistant. A "Cook" is essentially the bottom biatch of the kitchen staff, especially if you never went to culinary school (like me!). If you're not spending most of your time running around the kitchen like a crazy man or cutting veggies, you're not a cook.

This. A lot of this. People watch TV and think cooks play by the stove all day. Truth of the matter is, the prep work takes longer than the actual cooking process on the majority of dishes.